7/27 Springfield Class with KJN

Sir,

Last night was a fantastic class. You would have enjoyed it. We had about 8 masters and about the same number of Dons.

We started with the usual center punches in 2 counts. I had a hard time getting my body in sync but this exercise helped a bit. KJN gave us a new image while doing this. Think of your center being a magnet which pulls your elbows in close. I think we were having the habit of letting our elbows out a small amount.

After a few punches we did a combo while still side stance which was to help us focus on using our hip and letting it pull our arms.

- start from a punch at a 45 deg angle to the left with the right hand.

- pull the hip letting the left hand do a Soo Do block to the left while shifting the body to the right.

- let the right hand which is at your side in ready position drop relaxing it and your body.

- use the hip to bring the extended arm up past your right ear up high, pull it down with your hip driving it down to strike directly in front of you with a palm strike.

- punch to right with left arm, repeat other direction.

We then moved into our kicks. While observing KJN I noticed that when he returns back to the ready position, he settles into the front stance at the very end. This gives his kicks a very nice and clear controlled finish. I tried to emulate this but found I would slip back to my old way if I lost my concentration. It felt good when I did remember.

We moved into side kick an we stayed there for 30 min or more. You do a basic kick for years and years and you think you know what your doing with it...not

So we worked on the more advanced side kick where you come up like a front kick and at the very last moment twist the hip into the sidekick. It was asked at what level should we introduce this kick to students. Don level, this allows the student to grasp the concept of body moving to the side to strike. Once this concept is established firmly only then move on to the more advance side kick.

This side kick sounds easy but to do it correctly is not so easy and as I said we did this for at least 30 min and I do not think anyone felt like they had more than a grasp of the concept down. The common mistakes people make when doing this kick is to turn the knee down to the side to early and to have the hip turned sideways to early.

We did a great exercise to practice the concept:

- make groups of 3 people

- 1 behind the kicker to support them from falling

- 2 holding the kickers kicking foot so that the foot can be turned sideways

- 3 the kicker in between the others

The kicks are done with much resistance given by the holder of the foot. Not fighting but no freebees either. The kick when done correctly is like kicking in thick sirup or honey pushing the holder of the foot backwards. The reverse is done for the contraction brining the foot back to the ready position.

The kicker first (not to practice but just to experience the difference) turns their hips sideways and tries the kick. You quickly find how little power you have to push the foot holder backwards. It requires great leg power to move them at all since the hip is already turned.

1. Now for the correct kick. The hip if forward like for a front kick but in the ready position the foot is turned like a side kick ready position.
2. Push the hip forward as is done with a front kick driving the foot holder backwards
3. At the very end of the kick when the hip is pushed almost all the way forward turn the hip sideways driving the foot with a final burst of acceleration (f=ma) to the finish position of the side kick. This position is the same as it always has been with the butt pointing up in the air.
4. The return is as hard as the strike with the holder of the foot providing lots of resistance. To get your foot back you must twist the hip forward and back which starts the momentum of the holder towards you and you can then pull your hip straight back.

Your legs will feel longer and lighter when done :)

We then moved on to hyung where we worked on Jin Do again. This time we broke it down into about 5-6 blocks of motions. We did the full form through without count as a group and then worked on each block of motions by the count.

Blocks:

1. up to first pushing motion with right hand forward
2. up to side stance with right hand over left over knee, after the real low blocks
3. end of first 1/2 with uppercut punch with right and groin strike backward with left
   • This block we had some breathing corrections
   • First move bringing the hands into double (reverse embrace) block is an inhase
   • Next motion opening the arms with a wide circular motion is small inhale or no breath
   • hand folding up to head is sharp exhale with energy shifting down through the rear leg and side of the body. No large shifting of the body, etc. very subtle.
   • Large circular motion, exhale when settling into position with arms extended hands open, soft motion
   • inhale and strong exhale with hand folding up towards head
   • Drop the arm, inhale and swing into high block exhale
   • Double punch
   • Rear foot stays planted into uppercut with supporting left arm.
   • Drive hip into final motion pushing hip forward into uppercut while left stays behind for groin hammer strike.
4. up to the second middle soo do
5. side stance with hands over right knee just before the breathing in double block hands out right high left low (backward embrace)
6. Finish

We did some paired stretching which was great. You just cannot get that final bit by pushing yourself.

Closed with our punching exercise again with no beak down, just relaxing punches.